Macy’s Kicks Off the Holiday Season with a Charming Little Space Story

Consumption knows no gravity

By Angela Natividad

Halloween is barely over, Thanksgiving’s still on the way, and we’ve already got a holiday spot on the docket.

Macy’s kicks off the season’s campaigning with “Space Station.” Don’t expect any Wu-Tang shenanigans here: Created by BBDO New York, it’s a warm story of an astronaut and her daughter Mia, who’s given her a papier-mâché snowman called Sunny to keep her company in space’s endless night.

Because it’s not easy to take time off in the middle of a zero-gravity mission, the astronaut admits she probably isn’t going to make it back in time to open presents with the family. And while Mia’s sorry about that, she’s already prepared a contingency plan.

Sunny is more than just a comforting reminder of home. On Christmas Day, its back opens to reveal the gift of a snowglobe encased in styrofoam, which consequently goes flying around the space station.

Astronauts, watch your gears! Our worst fear was that this would turn out in life-ending mayhem, like that scene in Gravity. There’s a reason Scrabble pieces are Velcroed!

But this is a holiday spot for a department store, and nothing bad happens ever in that snowglobe. So it goes here: The styrofoam serves only to bring the spirit of Christmas aboard. It ends with the astronaut floating in wonder amid flaky white, encased in a globe of her own.

“Believe in the wonder of giving,” Macy’s concludes.

The spot—frankly a nice way to kick off the next few months—will run on TV and in social.

Music: Soundtree Music
Executive Producer: Jay James
Music title: HOME
Composed by Joel Hartman for Soundtree Music
Published by Soundtree Music Publishing
Head of Music Production: Luis Almau
MD/Producer: Jay James